Barking & Dagenham College Apprentice decorators do top job

The College’s Aspire painting and decorating business was approached by Coppice Primary School in early 2018 to start a redecoration project at the school.

Apprentice Jade Buckingham has moved her way up through levels of apprenticeship and is now in a supervisory role for Aspire.

Over the summer Jade project-managed the work for the school, assisted by her manager Cliff Medhurst, which involved redecorating the corridors, six classrooms and the sports hall. They were so impressed with work that they invited Jade and her team back this February half term to carry out further decorating work.

Cliff says: “Jade always gives such a lot of input and shows so much interest in every job. She has impressed so much that she’s been instrumental in us securing ongoing contracts with two of the local schools that we have done work for.”

Claire Higbee, School Business Manager at Coppice Primary School emailed glowing feedback to the College, commenting: “We had decided to start a rolling decorating programme of the whole school – this was a project that I was dreading!

“Jade and Cliff came into Coppice Primary School in early 2018 and from the moment they arrived at the school until the moment they left they were nothing but professional, polite, accommodating and friendly.

“The team of decorators were always very friendly, polite and respectful of our school. They would come in, do the job in hand and then leave the school as clean as they had found it.

“Jade must be commended on her role as team leader, she was fantastic. She kept me informed at every step of the project, and if I wasn’t available she would liaise with the head teacher when she was on site. Jade has a professional way about her, a very kind nature and has so much pride in what she does. If there was anything that she needed to talk to me about she would explain it again and again so that she knew I completely understood.

“I am delighted with the decorating that Jade and her team did for us.”

Jade loves her time at college and is keen to progress; she is now moving on to a Construction and Design Management Apprenticeship and she aspires to be a project manager.